Almanac Update: August 1980 (Part Four)

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AUGUST 1980 - PART 4
FOURTH WEEK IN AUGUST

Interestingly, the first card of action during the final week of August of 1980 involving Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling occurred in Canada! The main event bout of that card in Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on August 24th was also the only action that week involving the white-hot feud between NWA World's Tag Team Champions Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens and former champs Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood. This brutal battle took place within the unforgiving confines of a steel cage, with the champions prevailing in 22:23 with Snuka capturing the pinfall on the Indian sensation, Jay Youngblood.

The NWA World's Heavyweight Champion Harley Race made a rare pass through the Mid-Atlantic area during the first part of the week, and was very fortunate to leave the territory with his title belt still in tow. In Greenville, South Carolina on the 25th, Race won a lengthy championship encounter with Ric Flair via count-out when the "Nature Boy" was  barely unable to beat the 10 count to get back into the ring. Flair suffered a similar disappointment the following night in the Raleigh Civic Center, when he and Race wrestled to a classic 60 minute draw, again allowing Harley to retain his title.

Race put up his World belt one final time during the week, this time at the Richmond Coliseum on August 29th. In a titanic struggle that at times seemed to showcase more brawling than wrestling, Harley and Ricky were both counted out on the floor as they were in a toe-to-toe slugfest. Race had to have been overjoyed to have his belt with him when he soon thereafter boarded an airplane at Richmond International Airport, with a ticket to leave the Mid-Atlantic area.

The last week of August seemed to signal a shift in the four-way program between Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan against Greg Valentine and "Bad Boy" Bobby Duncum. The four had a hard-fought bout in Richmond on the 29th, with the good guys prevailing, but most of the week saw two singles conflicts splintering out of the tag team program.

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine

The end of the month saw Valentine battling Flair over the United States Heavyweight Title in the Charlotte Coliseum on the 30th in an exciting double count-out outcome, and then the "Hammer" turned around the next day and performed an exhausting title defending double-shot. In Asheville, North Carolina in the afternoon Valentine handled the challenge of Paul Jones, and then turned around that evening at the Greensboro Coliseum and defeated Ric Flair in a bloodbath witnessed by 6,853 howling fans.

Blackjack Mulligan and Bobby Duncum had a bloodbath of their own in Greensboro, with the unmitigated mayhem ending in a double count-out decision with the match being hopelessly out of control from the beginning. This feud became very personal between these two coming out of an incident that occurred on the week's television taping of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling on August 27th, that aired in most TV markets on Saturday, August 30th. The week's Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show also showcased two real "head-scratching" incidents involving the NWA Television Champion, the Masked Superstar.

The week's Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show really had surprises from beginning to end. In the opener, the Masked Superstar wrestled Wayne Rogers, and definitely injured Rogers with a vicious clothesline. It was clear Rogers was hurt, and rather than following up with his equally vicious finishing hold the cobra, the Superstar backed off and allowed referee Sonny Fargo to check on the well-being of Rogers.

It was later determined that Rogers had suffered torn ligaments in his neck, and color commentator David Crockett made it a point to comment to the fans that the Superstar stopped when it appeared Rogers was injured, a move according to Crockett that impressed him and that "surprised everyone." It would not be the last surprising move from the masked man during this noteworthy TV show.

The first interview segment of the show was likewise noteworthy. Blackjack Mulligan, Ric Flair and Paul Jones appeared together at the same time on the same set for the same interview segment, after being adversaries at various times over many years in the Mid-Atlantic area! Flair referred to Blackjack as his "closest friend" and advised Bobby Duncum that he would be well served by taking off to avoid a confrontation with Mully. Blackjack responded that Duncum was like a "bad case of flu you can't get rid of" but that he was determined to outlast the "Bad Boy." For his part, the "new" Paul Jones told the fans he had "a lot of forgiving to do" and that he had "a lot to make up to the people," a task that he estimated would take at least six months to accomplish.

The August 27th TV show also delivered with a rare champion versus champion match on television. United States Champion Greg Valentine battled Matt Borne, who was one-half of the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions. In a surprisingly physical encounter, Greg was disqualified when he was hammering away at Borne in the corner and would not break at the count of five, necessitating the DQ by referee Sonny Fargo.

But the week's TV show saved its best for last. The Masked Superstar appeared for the last interview segment and after some back and forth banter with announcer Bob Caudle, an animated Greg Valentine appeared on the set and yelled, "Let me talk; you got the U.S. champ here!" Standing alone that interruption wouldn't have meant much, but over the previous several week on the sister World Wide Wrestling television program, the Superstar had barely been able to get a word in edgewise as his "bad guy" colleagues were rudely hogging the interview segments. It thus appeared to be yet another dismissive slight of the masked man.

When Bobby Duncum joined Greg on the set, the big Texan went right away to disparaging Blackjack Mulligan's girlfriend, Sara Jo Puckett. Duncum told the fans that Sara Jo ran away with a guy named "Slim," and that Blackjack "couldn't even hold a 290 pound fat broad!" That slander was more than Mulligan could stand, and Blackjack raced onto the interview set to confront Duncum.

Mulligan and Duncum then participated in a major brawl in the studio, with Blackjack sustaining a significant cut and was bleeding profusely. But most significantly, when Valentine attempted to join Duncum in the fracas and double-team Mulligan, Greg was held back by none other than the Masked Superstar! The Superstar shockingly said while holding back Greg, "He doesn't have to be out here. Let them two fight it out!" A thoroughly perplexed Valentine looking squarely at Superstar then uttered, "I don't know what's happened to this individual."

The show went off the air as Mulligan and Duncum continued to battle, with the Superstar continuing to hold back Valentine from entering the fray. Both of those visuals would define much of what the Mid-Atlantic fans would be witnessing as the month of September began, along with the autumn winds of change.

Almanac Update: August 1980 (Part Three)

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AUGUST 1980 - PART 3
THIRD WEEK IN AUGUST 1980
PART ONE  | PART TWO

Week number three in the month of August 1980 kicked off with a super spectacular Greensboro Coliseum card that featured two bouts highlighting the top two feuds currently ongoing in the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling area. A crowd of 6,231in Greensboro witnessed Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens successfully defend their NWA World Tag Team Titles against the top challengers, Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood in a hard fought battle. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair also continued his onslaught against former partner Greg Valentine and despite Ric's spirited win over Valentine in Greensboro, the "Hammer" remained the United States Heavyweight Championship.

During the remainder of the week, the Stevens/Snuka tag team championship duo took the measure of Steamboat and Youngblood first-off in Harrisonburg, Virginia on August 21st. That was followed up with a 500 mile trip to the other end of the territory, to the venerable County Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, where the champs prevailed again the next night. The champs were riding high, also continuing to feed off of a World Wide Wrestling TV interview the week before where they extolled their virtues to the point that the NWA Television Champion the Masked Superstar, also expecting interview time, couldn't even get a word in edgewise about himself, as the champs with their manager Gene Anderson yapped excessively.

The battles between Ric Flair and Greg Valentine also continued unabated during the course of the week. The "Nature Boy" prevailed at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium on August 18th, and on August 21st at the Norfolk Scope Coliseum, along with a disqualification victory in Culpeper, Virginia on August 22nd. Despite that string of losses, Greg managed to maintain a tenuous hold on the U.S. Heavyweight Championship belt.

The four-way battles that were getting cranked up earlier during the month of August between Greg Valentine and "Bad Boy" Bobby Duncum against Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan and were almost immediately derailed by Duncum's leg injury, started back up during the week at the Charlotte Coliseum on August 23rd with Ric and Blackjack prevailing. Earlier in the week on August 17th in Roanoke, the Masked Superstar subbed for Duncum as he and Valentine dropped a slugfest to Flair and Mulligan. Likewise because of Duncum nursing his injury, the originally advertised tag team bout in Norfolk on the 21st between Duncum and Valentine against Flair and Sweet Ebony Diamond was reconfigured as a Flair/Valentine singles encounter.

Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Hossein the Arab, the Iron Sheik, defended his title against Sweet Ebony Diamond twice during the week, slipping by the masked man on August 18th in Fayetteville, North Carolina and at the Charlotte Coliseum on August 23rd with heavy doses of chicanery. "Number One" Paul Jones was also tantalizingly close to upending the Sheik for the Mid-Atlantic Championship in Norfolk on the 21st, but the Sheik once again got himself purposely disqualified allowing him to walk out with the belt intact.

The Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television show for this week was taped on August 20th, and featured two newcomers, former Canadian football star George Wells and a young Samoan grappler, Tony Tossi. While Wells was victorious in his match, Tossi fell in a rugged outing against the Iron Sheik. Also seeing action on the August 20th Mid-Atlantic TV program was the tag team of Paul Jones and Sweet Ebony Diamond, the dynamic duo of Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan and the United States Champion Greg Valentine.

In an interview segment during the August 20th Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show, the soft-spoken newcomer George Wells told announcer Bob Caudle, "I've been working long and hard for this moment, and I've finally made it and I'm gonna try to hang around here as long as I can." Wells, as great an athlete as he clearly was, had an uphill climb to make the main event ranks on the very talented roster of Jim Crockett Promotions.

Also on the week's television front, in response to Bad Boy Bobby Duncum earlier telling the television audience that he had been injured and that he wasn't going to wrestle fellow Texan Blackjack Mulligan until he was 100%, Blackjack referenced Duncum while telling Caudle, "I hope the flu is over, I hope your bad cold is over and you're ready to get in the ring...I hope you're 100%! Because Duncum is smart enough to know that he's got to be 100% to get in the ring with me or Flair. Now Bobby D., this is gonna happen...we banged heads in high school, we banged heads in college and pro football all the way up the line. And now people are gonna get to see it brother, with no pads on Bobby Duncum, just me and you!

Ric Flair also chimed in from the interview area exclaiming, "Bob Caudle, we don't take nothing laying down! We want Valentine, we want Duncum, George Wells wants 'em all. And before it's all over, we're gonna throw a party that they're never gonna forget and Mulligan, myself, Wells, Jones, Youngblood, Steamboat...everybody's invited! And brother, some dudes we know are gonna start payin' their dues! Woooo!" The Nature Boy had certainly put an exclamation point on Week 3 as only he could!

We finish out the month of August 1980 in PART FOUR!

Almanac: August 1980 (Part Two)

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AUGUST 1980 - PART TWO
SECOND WEEK IN AUGUST


The beginning of the second week of August 1980 in the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling area saw on its first day the ending of a major feud, and the beginning of a brand new one. On August 8th at County Hall in the port city of Charleston, South Carolina the Iron Sheik wrote a successful ending to his Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship program with Jim Brunzell, thoroughly defeating the challenger from White Bear Lake, Minnesota in a Falls Count Anywhere/No Disqualification battle. That very same night in Lynchburg, Virginia the first salvo in the Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan versus Greg Valentine and "Bad Boy" Bobby Duncum brew-ha-ha was fired, with the melee that ensued being deemed a double disqualification.

The Flair/Mulligan against Valentine/Duncum four-way carried on the following night at the Charlotte Coliseum with the "bad guys" pulling out a bloody victory, but on August 12th at the Raleigh Civic Center Flair and Mulligan turned the tables and got their hands raised. On August 15th at the Richmond Coliseum the four were set to tangle again, but Duncum came to the ring in his street clothes and told the Richmond fans that he was suffering from a leg injury and that he wasn't going to compete unless he was 100% healthy. The Masked Superstar took Duncum's place in the match, but the last minute switcheroo doomed the rulebreakers to a hard fought loss.

The 11,000 or so fans that gathered in the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada on August 10th saw quite a card that featured three major bouts involving Mid-Atlantic stars. Blackjack Mulligan and Enforcer Luciano completed their final bout against each other, with Mully dominating the Enforcer one last time in a Texas Street Fight. Ric Flair battled Greg Valentine in a brutal "Death Match," finally prevailing after 34:06 of non-stop action. And last but certainly not least, Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion the Iron Sheik regained the Canadian Heavyweight Championship belt, dispatching Angelo Mosca for the title in 14:51 to the chagrin of those in attendance.

That same August 10th night in Asheville, North Carolina saw an unusual contest of the masked men, pitting the Masked Superstar putting up his NWA Television Title against the popular Mr. Wrestling II making a guest shot in the territory. The Superstar retained his TV belt on that occasion and also retained against Paul Jones, Johnny Weaver and Sweet Ebony Diamond during the course of the week.

Sweet Ebony Diamond

Speaking of Sweet Ebony Diamond, the masked man also got shots at the area's other singles titles during the week, but came up empty handed. On August 11th in the Greenville Memorial Auditorium Greg Valentine pinned Diamond in a U.S. Title confrontation, but in Sumter, South Carolina on August 14th Diamond dominated the "Hammer" but Greg went the disqualification route to hold onto his coveted belt. In Charleston, South Carolina the following evening  it was more of the same as Diamond had the Iron Sheik on the ropes in a Mid-Atlantic Title bout, but the Sheik also got himself purposely disqualified and left the "Sweet man" thoroughly frustrated after a tough week seeking championship gold.

The battle over the NWA World Tag Team Titles between champions Ray Stevens and Jimmy Snuka and challengers Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood formed bookends around the second week of August, with a wild double disqualification finish happening in Greenwood, South Carolina on August 8th, while on August 16th at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium the challengers were at their best but the "bad guys" nevertheless maintained hold of their belts through the middle of the month.

The Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television program of the week was taped at the WRAL TV studios on August 13th, and featured a surprisingly competitive opener between Paul Jones and Ricky Ferarra and a final bout that featured an unusual six man team made up of the Superstar, the Iron Sheik and Greg Valentine. In between, there were separate matches featuring the combatants over the World Tag Team Titles, the champs Ray Stevens and Jimmy Snuka and the primary team chasing them, Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood.

During the week's TV show, the initial interview segment featured Sweet Ebony Diamond and Paul Jones, primarily focusing on Paul's recent turn back to the "good guy" side. Diamond complimented Jones on his change of heart, telling him that, "When you've seen the light, you can't walk in the dark." Paul told announcer Bob Caudle that he knew how the bad guys thought, and that he believed that they had selected the Iron Sheik to go after him before he got re-started back in the territory. "Number One" warned the Sheik that, "If you mess around with me you're gonna lose that Mid-Atlantic Title, and that's a promise."

The final interview segment of the August 13th television taping involved the victorious six man team of the Superstar, the Iron Sheik and Greg Valentine. The most noteworthy comments came from the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion and the newly crowned Canadian champion, the Iron Sheik. Hossein the Arab put a bow on his feud with Jim Brunzell, saying he beat him and was "sick and tired of Jim Brunzell," and that Brunzell was "too sissy" and was on his way out of the Mid-Atlantic area and over "to Hollywood." The Sheik also responded to Paul Jones' comments earlier in the show, joined the impending battle with Jones and bellowed, "Mr. Paul Jones, you better be ready!"

Be on the lookout for August 1980 Part 3!

Almanac: August 1980 (Part One)

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AUGUST 1980 - PART ONE
1st  WEEK IN AUGUST

The first week of August in 1980 saw the continuation of the summer's major feuds in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, two of which were in their final stages. Those two climactic programs being the battles between Blackjack Mulligan and Enforcer Luciano and the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship series between the Iron Sheik and Jim Brunzell.

Enforcer Luciano with Bob Caudle and David Crockett

The month of August began with a Texas Street Fight clash between Mulligan and the Enforcer at the Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia on August 1st. It was clear from the local Richmond promos that this bout could be one of the last between these two heated adversaries. Blackjack told the Richmond fans, "They're some pretty tough boys around Richmond. I want everybody to get up real close, because I want them to hear the screams of terror and pain, and there may be some from myself. I guarantee you one thing brother, Luciano, somebody's gonna be hurt very badly right there in the Richmond Coliseum."

The Enforcer had his own choice words for Blackjack, remarking, "This is your kind of match. Come dressed as you are, I'm gonna come dressed as I am right now. And I've got a slapjack for you Blackjack! And if that ain't enough, a hunk of chain to wrap around your throat! And if that doesn't get it, one of the most dangerous weapons in the world in the hands of a man like myself...and that Mr. Mulligan, with a hunk of steel across your head is about all it will take!"

Mulligan and Luciano also met in a Texas Street Fight in Raleigh, North Carolina on August 5th, and the Enforcer exclaimed to the Raleigh fans, "Every time I come out here I get people giving me a finger to speed up, not to say anything else, they push fences in front of me, they do all kinds of things that I really don't like! And there's something else I don't like and that's Mulligan, and I'll tell you something Mr. Mulligan..."

Luciano then continued excoriating Blackjack, "...You've been fooling with fire since you've started with me. I came in here, I pounded you, I've pummeled you, I've put you down and you're going to stay down Mister! I'm telling you something...I'm going to get you if it's the last thing I do! I'm coming equipped, this is a Street Fight. Suppose I handcuff you to the ring pole and beat your brains in with a blackjack?!?" In both Richmond and Raleigh that didn't come close to happening, as Blackjack thoroughly destroyed Luciano, leaving the Enforcer stretched out in the middle of the ring in both venues.

In the first week of August, Mulligan also hammered Luciano in Chain matches in Greenville, South Carolina on August 4th and then again at the Norfolk Scope Coliseum on August 7th. All in all, the first week in August could not have gone any worse for the Enforcer!

Mid-Atlantic Champion, the Iron Sheik, and Jim Brunzell also wound down their spirited program during the first week in August, 1980. Brunzell succinctly told the fans in Raleigh how important his No Disqualification match in the Raleigh Civic Center on August 5th against the Sheik was by stating, "Anything goes, and if somebody would have told me a year and three months ago that this was going to happen I wouldn't have believed them. You know, the loser of this match might as well pack up and leave. You know, I came here and I established something for myself and now I'm fighting, fighting for existence here. This is my new home Sheik...be prepared because anything goes! I know you don't like to be hurt, you've proved that. You're paranoid, you're scared...you better be ready in Raleigh!"

The Sheik and Brunzell also squared off in Spartanburg, South Carolina on August 2nd in a Texas Death match and again the next night in the Greensboro Coliseum. The Sheik prevailed in those bouts, in addition to the Raleigh match, so their appeared no doubt that the Iranian had bested "Jumping" Jim in this red-hot summer program.

The one major feud that was active and competitive during the first week of August was the battle over the NWA World's Tag Team Titles between champs Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens and former champs Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood. The teams split their two matches during the first week of August, with the champs taking a hard fought Fence match in Richmond on August 1st, but the challengers responded with an impressive count out win two days later in the Greensboro Coliseum. Unlike the other two feuds above, this one was far from over!

The Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television show of the week that was taped on August 6th featured the in-ring return of Paul Jones, who was back wrestling for the people with a scientific style. The program began with a segment featuring Blackjack Mulligan, who explained to the fans that he had been spending too much time in Texas attending to issues, and not enough time attending to the new challenge presented by fellow Texan "Bad Boy" Bobby Duncum. Blackjack assured the Mid-Atlantic faithful that his full attention would be on Duncum going forward, exclaiming, "As far as I'm concerned Bobby Duncum, the case is open my friend...the banking days are over, the wrestling days are back, and you are a marked man my friend right now!"

The August 6th TV show also took a look back at the Ric Flair-Greg Valentine dust up from the previous week, where Ric tore most of the clothes off the new United States Heavyweight Champion Valentine. Greg told the fans that he wasn't prepared to wrestle the week before, and that the Nature Boy took advantage of him. Valentine went on to taunt Flair by bragging about the new version of the U.S. Title belt that he was holding. Greg crowed, "I've got the gold right here, and by the way, this is a new belt made up by the NWA who is the governing body of all wrestling, the biggest governing body, and they sent me a new belt because they know what a great champion I'm gonna be! I'm gonna make Ric Flair look sick!"

The final bout of the first Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV program in August saw Ric and Blackjack team up again for the first time in many months, and was a clear sign of their solidarity against the new threat of the duo of Greg Valentine and Bobby Duncum. Tag team matches between these four were imminent during the remainder of the month of August. Flair told announcer Bob Caudle, "We're not sparing the whip! If Valentine and Duncum want to play dirty, then they just tied into [two] of the dirtiest! Jack Mulligan can do anything he wants to, and Ric Flair I feel wrote the book!" It sure appeared that the hottest summer in many years was just about to get a lot hotter!

Join us for AUGUST 1980 PART 2

Almanac: July 1980 - Part Five

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JULY 1980 - PART FIVE
4th WEEK IN JULY

The final days of the month of July 1980 featured two more television tapings from the WRAL TV 5 studios in Raleigh, North Carolina due to the month having five Wednesdays. The first of those remaining TV tapings occurred on July 23rd, and showcased the surprising return of a longtime star and a first of its kind "music video" featuring Ric Flair!

The returnee was none other than "Number 1" Paul Jones who had been absent from the area for several months after a lengthy run as a wrestling rule-breaker. Paul returned in his "good guy" persona to tell the fans that he was turning over a new leaf, and was going to start wrestling by the rules if the fans and wrestlers would take him back.

Jones told surprised Mid-Atlantic announcers Bob Caudle and David Crockett, "Listen, I'm ashamed of what I did. I left somewhere to get my head together, I even put a mask over my head I was so ashamed. But I'll never put another mask over my head again, and I'll never have to go to the people or the wrestlers and say I'm sorry, because I've always been a man. I've been down a wrong road, I realized it Bob and David, and all I want is the opportunity." Time would tell how sincere Paul was, and where his apparent change of heart would lead.

The most intriguing segment of the July 23rd program was a music video of sorts featuring Ric Flair. With the background music featuring Donna Summer's mega-hit "Hot Stuff" blaring, the Nature Boy strutted his stuff to the beat of the music. While Caudle and Crockett gushed over this novel production, not everyone was so impressed.

At the end of the show Greg Valentine complained to Caudle, "Now you showed this ridiculous thing with Ric Flair, out there disco dancing ." Caudle reacted, "That was great!" Greg continued, "I thought it was ridiculous. You know Flair, maybe you can dance pretty good, maybe you should stick to that! In fact, when I take that belt away from you maybe we can get you a job as a go-go dancer somewhere because that's all you'd be good for, except you'd have to wear a mask because your face is so scarred up."

The next two nights around the territory, Blackjack Mulligan continued his demolishing of Enforcer Luciano in Texas Street Fight matches, pounding the Enforcer into oblivion in Sumter, South Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina respectively. But Saturday night July 26th at the Charlotte Coliseum proved to be the most noteworthy arena event during the final days of July.

The super-spectacular card in Charlotte featured three title bouts, including NWA World's Heavyweight Champion Harley Race successfully beating back the challenge of Sweet Ebony Diamond. On that same star-studded card, and the Iron Sheik defeated Jim Brunzell in a wild and bloody No Disqualification bout. But the match of the night in Charlotte saw Greg Valentine defeat Ric Flair to capture the United States Heavyweight Championship with a clean win over the Nature Boy to the chagrin of the Charlotte faithful.

On Monday the 28th in the Greenville Memorial Auditorium and the following evening in the Columbia Township Auditorium, Ric Flair reversed roles and challenged Greg Valentine for the U.S. Title. While winning both of those contests by disqualification, the frustrated Nature Boy left both South Carolina venues title-less.

The final major arena card of the month of July occurred on the 29th at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia for a rare Tuesday night show, as Hampton cards were normally held on Saturday. What made this card additionally abnormal, was a power outage that occurred in the building during a tag team match pitting Swede Hanson and Enforcer Luciano against Special Delivery Jones and Johnny Weaver! Auxiliary power kicked in and the show went on with that tag match, with the bad guys prevailing once the lights returned.

The two main events in Hampton had significant pre-match buildups. The No Disqualification Mid-Atlantic Title bout between the Iron Sheik and Jim Brunzell had the feel of a last chance match for the challenger from White Bear Lake, Minnesota. In an in-your-area promo for the Hampton area fans, Brunzell told announcer Rich Landrum, "I don't like this match, Rich, but it's all boiled down to this. It's the only way things are going to be settled in the Mid-Atlantic area as far as I'm concerned, as far as the Iron Sheik is concerned. I'm tired of being put down, I'm frustrated, and I'm gonna vent those frustrations in this No Disqualification match. Sheik, I hope you're ready brother." Jim came up short in this critical matchup, which signaled the beginning of the end of Brunzell's year-plus successful Mid-Atlantic run.

The other main event in Hampton featured a World Tag Team Title encounter between champions Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens and challengers Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood, with the special stipulation of Johnny Weaver being in the corner of the "good guys" to counteract the champs' manager Gene Anderson. This stipulation was a direct result of Anderson interfering in a televised impromptu match between the two teams.

In an in-your-area promo for the Hampton faithful, Youngblood explained to announcer Rich Landrum, "You know, we asked Johnny to be in our corner and he jumped at the chance, because Johnny's the type of a man that likes to see a person get a fair break. That means Gene Anderson, there's gonna be law and order in that ring...we've got everything to gain and nothing to lose. And Hampton's gonna be the place where we get those belts back!" Unfortunately for the fan-favorites, while they won the match by DQ, they didn't carry the prized belts out with them. Much like the Sheik-Brunzell outcome, this decision portended storm clouds on the horizon for the Steamboat-Youngblood team in this feud.

The final TV taping of the month of July occurred on July 30th in the WRAL TV studios in Raleigh, and it was one to remember! Greg Valentine was announced as the new United States Heavyweight Champion, and came out on the TV set dressed in a tuxedo with two lovely ladies in tow. Greg gloated over his win, taunting Ric Flair and told Caudle and Crockett, "I'm not worried about challengers right now, I'm not accepting any challengers because I'm just gonna enjoy what this [belt] brings me...lots of money, and the fringe benefits right here."

Back in the control room listening to Valentine's diatribe, Ric Flair couldn't listen to anymore without taking action. The Nature Boy joined Valentine on the set, and proceeded to get the jump on the "Hammer" and tore virtually all of Greg's fancy clothes off, to the amazement of Valentine's girlfriends! However, Flair paid a heavy price for his embarrassing Valentine, as Greg's buddy "Bad Boy" Bobby Duncum came from the back and conked the Nature Boy flush with a steel chair with a sickening thud that reverberated through the TV studio.

Flair appeared at the end of the show, and thanked Johnny Weaver for taking his place in his schedule match. Ric said he was headed to the hospital to get checked out after the serious blow to his head. Duncum's involvement with the chair-shot later caused Flair to call his friend Blackjack Mulligan for assistance, and set up exciting tag team bouts featuring Duncum and Valentine against Flair and Mulligan as the calendar flipped over from July to August of 1980.


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Go back and review the entire month of July 1980!

Almanac: July 1980 Part Four

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JULY 1980 - PART FOUR
3rd WEEK IN JULY
The third week of July in 1980 kicked off in exciting fashion on July 16th, when there were two championship matches on the taping of the World Wide Wrestling television show. Matt Borne and Buzz Sawyer successfully defended their Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles against the duo of Ben Alexander and Billy Starr during the program. But the more noteworthy title encounter during that TV taping was a battle of the masked men that many fans had been clamoring for.

Matt Borne and Buzz Sawyer
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions

The Masked Superstar defended his NWA Television Championship against Sweet Ebony Diamond on this edition of World Wide Wrestling, and the sparks flew! After some great early action, the Superstar locked Diamond in his devastating cobra hold and appeared to have the match in hand, but the "sweet man" somehow got to the ropes forcing a break and the tide of the bout turned.

Using a vicious head-butt followed by a cross body block that took the Superstar off his feet, Sweet Ebony seized control of the match. When both masked men then tumbled toward the ropes, their momentum took them over the top rope and then a major brawl occurred out on the floor to the delight of the fans! Diamond was able to break away from the fray and slip back into the ring just milliseconds before the referee's count hit 10, earning himself a hard fought countout victory. But unfortunately for Diamond, titles don't change hands on a count out decision.

Nevertheless, the Superstar was impressed with the skill of his opponent. At the end of the show announcer Rich Landrum commented to the Superstar, "You retained your belt over Sweet Ebony Diamond, but that was one heck of a match." The Superstar responded, "Listen, every time I come out here I'm very, very confident. I'm still very, very confident. But this is the first time, I hope the only time, I'm going to come out here and tell you and tell the people viewing, that I feel very, very fortunate to have this belt at the present time. Now Sweet Ebony Diamond, I gotta give you a lot of credit."

Masked Superstar

Incredibly, the Superstar continued on in his effusive praise of his masked rival admitting, "Wherever you're at right now, I wanna tell you one thing that I haven't told anybody, and I mean anybody! You're a very, very good tough competitor. You're a very, very competent wrestler. Now don't get overconfident because I'm blowing some smoke. Don't get overconfident...but I've gotta give you credit where credit's due. But I'm holding on to this belt, I'm defending this belt, and I don't care who gets in the ring with me. If it's you Diamond again, or Blackjack Mulligan or his cousin, or the big man Andre the Giant, or Ric Flair or anybody. If you want this belt, you're gonna have to fight me for it!"

Arena action the following two evenings saw the same main events, but at the geographical extremes of the Mid-Atlantic area. At the Norfolk Scope on July 17th and the following night down at County Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, Ric Flair defeated Greg Valentine to retain his United States Heavyweight Championship and the Iron Sheik retained his Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship against top challenger Jim Brunzell.

Richmond, Virginia also hosted a super spectacular card on July 18th. In a follow-up from their classic TV match two days earlier, Sweet Ebony Diamond battled the Masked Superstar over the NWA Television Title, coming up with a DQ win but no title to take home. On July 22nd at the Raleigh Civic Center, Diamond secured a No DQ match with the Superstar but still could not nab the belt despite a technical victory.

Richmond also saw Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood attempting to regain the NWA World Tag Team Titles against Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens. In Richmond, the challengers won a countout decision but did not secure the belts. Later in the week in Roanoke, Virginia on the 20th and in Greenville, South Carolina on the 21st, Jay and Ricky were oh so close to recapturing the belts, but fell just short.

The end of the third week of July saw the beginning of the end for Enforcer Luciano in his feud with Blackjack Mulligan. In Roanoke on July 20th and in Fayetteville, North Carolina the next night, Blackjack laid out the Enforcer in Texas Street Fights where Luciana pulled out everything but the kitchen sink, but was still soundly whipped by the big man from Eagle Pass, Texas.

Finally, the third week of July in 1980 saw a title change and a World's Title bout! The title change occurred in of all places...Toronto, Canada! The Canadian Heavyweight Championship, which was referenced in the Mid-Atlantic area, switched from the Iron Sheik to Angelo Mosca on July 20th. And on July 22nd in Raleigh, Ric Flair got a rare opportunity to dethrone Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The Nature Boy gave it all he had, but got counted out of the ring enabling Race to emerge from the Raleigh Civic Center with his title belt intact.

Next time: We finish out the month of July!

* * * * * *


To read all about the month of July 1980, begin in PART 1
ALMANAC DIRECTORY 

Almanac History - July 1980 (Part Three)

David Chappell's
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling History
ALMANAC DIRECTORY

JULY 1980 - PART 3

CLICK FOR THE ALMANAC INDEX

SECOND WEEK OF JULY 1980 (Cont.)
After Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood inserted themselves in a match with NWA World Tag Team Champions Ray Stevens and Jimmy Snuka on the July 9, 1980 Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television program, announcer Bob Caudle had a hard time believing what he was seeing. Caudle marveled, "It goes to show you, anything can happen on Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling! The fans in our TV arena are about to go nuts here, along with Gene Anderson who keeps beating on the ring...he's gonna break that cane!" The ultra excitable color commentator David Crockett added, "I've already blown one mic!"

Gene Anderson
Manager of the NWA World
Tag Team Champions
 

The exciting back-and-forth bout came to an end when Steamboat appeared to secure the win for the "good guys" when he captured Stevens in his surfboard hold with no hope for escape, as the "bad guys" already had one save and Youngblood had chased Snuka out of the ring. The bell then rung, seemingly signaling the end of the match by submission and Steamboat dropped the flailing "Crippler" to the mat and the fan favorites began celebrating!

However, there was more to this story. In all the excitement, it became clear that the floor manager didn't ring the bell signaling the end of the match...but rather Gene Anderson, Snuka and Stevens’ diabolical manager, snuck around the ring to where the bell was and started ringing it! This controversial ending brought out a very rare verbal explanation from referee Tommy Young.

Young explained, "I heard the bell and figured the time was out---so the match is a draw." Crockett then bellowed, "The floor manager says he didn't ring the bell...Gene Anderson rang the bell!" Tommy responded, "Well, that could very well be; I don't know. But all I know is I heard the bell, and when I looked back there Gene Anderson was not there. The official verdict...this is a draw. I'm sorry, this is a draw." Crockett went ballistic, yelling, "BUT GENE ANDERSON RANG THE BELL!" Young then calmly talked Crockett down off the ledge explaining, "I did not see it. I'm sorry David, but it's a draw. It's all I can do."

Steamboat and Youngblood were no happier about the outcome than Crockett was. Ricky complained to Caudle and Crockett later in the same show, "What can the NWA do about Anderson? What can we do about that man? Every time we turn around he's doin' something behind our backs!” Youngblood concurred, "Bob, it was plain to see we had them beat right in the middle. Plain to see! Anderson has been comin' around doin' all this kind of stuff. He's been takin' everybody's eyes off the match, and doin' a lot of stuff."

Jay Youngblood and
Ricky Steamboat

Ricky was becoming even angrier and blurted out, "When we sign contracts, we sign contracts to wrestle Stevens and Snuka, not Anderson---he's a manager! He's not supposed to interfere; he's not supposed to be involved. And every time we wrestle 'em he's always runnin' up and down to the ring and he's sticking his cane in there and he's hittin' people with it!"

Seeking and searching for relief from Gene Anderson, Steamboat opined, "What can we do about that particular man? I think what we may have to do is check into that and possibly get a man in our corner also."

While that stipulation was going to come about shortly, around the second week of July the one unique stipulation that was employed was a “Falls Count Anywhere” contest in Columbia, South Carolina at the Township Auditorium on July 15th. On that night, the champs retained their belts against Steamboat and Youngblood in a match where the participants battled into every nook and cranny of the arena!

The two teams split their other two matches during the week. On July 11th in Lynchburg, Virginia Ray and the “Superfly” successfully defended their belts in a title encounter, while Ricky and Jay exacted a bit of revenge in Greenville, South Carolina at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium on July 14th by besting the champs in a non-title bout.

In two other noteworthy matches that occurred around the area in and around the second week of July, starting in Sumter, South Carolina on July 10th, Andre the Giant and Sweet Ebony Diamond defeated Snuka and Stevens in a non-title bout as Andre wound down his latest tour of the Mid-Atlantic area in impressive fashion. And at the end of the week and bleeding into the third week of the month, Ric Flair defeated former partner Greg Valentine in a bloody bout at the Raleigh Civic Center, retaining his United States Heavyweight Title in the process.

More from July 1980 in PART FOUR                       ALMANAC DIRECTORY

Almanac History - July 1980 (Part Two)

David Chappell's
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling History
ALMANAC DIRECTORY

JULY 1980 - PART TWO

JULY 1980             WEEK 2

The second week of July of 1980 kicked off in earnest with the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television taping in the WRAL TV 5 studios in Raleigh, North Carolina on July 9th. The TV card featured a good mix of Mid-Atlantic stars, but the final bout of the card really stole the show!

The first television bout featured a mid-card matchup where Johnny Weaver and Special Delivery Jones bested the duo of Swede Hanson and Billy Starr. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine defeated Ron Ritchie, and the program also showcased wins by "Bad Boy" Bobby Duncum in his second TV appearance and the former World Tag Team Champions Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood. But the last bout on the program would see a return to action of the former World Tag Team Champions...in a quite unexpected way.

Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens
with manager Gene Anderson
 

Inserted in the middle of the July 9th TV taping was a film of the match where Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens defeated Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Announcer Rich Landrum narrated the video snippets, along with Steamboat and Youngblood. The end of the match saw Stevens piledriving Steamboat on the concrete floor, soon after Ricky had been hit with the cane of manager Gene Anderson.

The film clip went on to show that almost simultaneous to Steamboat being laid out on the arena's concrete floor, Snuka hit Youngblood with a flying head-butt with the "Superfly" capturing the three count on Jay for the pinfall victory.

Steamboat was particularly bitter about the loss of the titles in this way, and vented to Landrum while watching the film, "I'm motionless, I'm laying there [and] I'm knocked out cold. I don't know nothing, I don't feel nothing, but there's gonna be a time and day when Stevens and Snuka [are] gonna feel that cement floor on their heads!"

Ricky and Jay's anger came out in full force and effect when the last match on the July 9th TV program was about to begin. Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens were prepared to wrestle Tony Garea and Nick DeCarlo, and both teams were in the ring waiting for the opening bell to ring. At that very instant, Steamboat and Youngblood raced into the ring and immediately tore into Snuka and Stevens! Garea and DeCarlo seem startled by the turn of events, but left the ring, and the final bout of the show became a "main event" caliber match between the World Tag Team Champions and the former champs!

Color commentator David Crockett exclaimed, "This is the rematch...I wish the championship was on the line!" An equally excited announcer Bob Caudle followed, "What a match! It's all impromptu, at least as far as Snuka and Stevens are concerned and Gene Anderson...because it definitely wasn't on their minds they were gonna wrestle this match. Certainly not today!"

Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood appear to defeat Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens in the unscheduled TV match---but referee Tommy Young is forced to make a controversial ruling!

To be continued...                                                        ALMANAC DIRECTORY

Almanac History - July 1980 (Part One)

David Chappell's
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling History
ALMANAC DIRECTORY

JULY 1980       (WEEK 1)

July 1980 - Part One
The Fourth of July holiday week of 1980 brought in the biggest star in professional wrestling, literally, in the person of Andre the Giant, to the Mid-Atlantic area. The first week of July also brought with it a series of action-packed battles where Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood attempted to regain the World Tag Team Tiles from the newly formed duo of Ray "The Crippler" Stevens and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka.

A rare card in the Raleigh Civic Center on July 1st started out the first week of July, and the second half of the year of 1980, for the stars of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. The highlight of the event in Raleigh was a World Tag Team Title match where anger got the best of Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood, in their championship bout with Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens. Steamboat and Youngblood's venom directed against the bad guy's manager Gene Anderson turned a sure win into a disqualification loss.

Despite spirited attempts, Steamboat and Youngblood also came up short in their quest to unseat "Anderson's Army" for the World Tag Team Titles in the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 5th, in Asheville, North Carolina on July 6th, in Fayetteville, North Carolina on July 7th and at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina on July 8th.

The Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television show that was taped on Wednesday July 2nd featured the first appearance of the double-tough Texan "Bad Boy" Bobby Duncum, who dispatched Nick DeCarlo with little trouble. Duncum told announcer Bob Caudle at the end of the program, "I'm gonna tell you something, there's gonna be a lot people payin' some dues around here, you understand? You got Mulligan runnin' around here, big bad Mully made a legend of himself...he's gonna be beggin' and screamin' for mercy before I get through with him. You got Flair runnin' around with a nice robe, we're gonna take him down to his knees. He's holdin' the belt partner; I'm gonna leave 'em all layin', you understand?"

Andre the Giant returned to the area on July 3rd at the Scope Coliseum in Norfolk, Virginia. Andre was his dominating self in Norfolk, capturing a 13 man Battle Royal at the Scope. On the July 4th holiday, the Giant controlled another Battle Royal in Shelby, North Carolina before heading over to Winston-Salem , North Carolina later in the day to battle the Masked Superstar in a NWA Television Title contest. The Giant then appeared in Hampton, Virginia on July 5th and formed a dynamic trio with Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan to handily dispatch the combination of the Superstar, Greg Valentine and Enforcer Luciano.

ANDERSON'S ARMY
Ray Stevens, Jimmy Snuka, and the Iron Sheik

Andre closed out the holiday weekend in Roanoke, Virginia on July 6th by teaming with "Jumping" Jim Brunzell and Ric Flair to dominate the trio of the Iron Sheik, Greg Valentine and Enforcer Luciano, before heading down the road to Greensboro, North Carolina later that same day to capture yet another Battle Royal, this time besting Jimmy Snuka at the end.

Former close friends and partners Ric Flair and Greg Valentine battled over Ric's United States Heavyweight Title in the Richmond Coliseum on the 4th of July, and followed that with title bouts in Greensboro on July 6th and Greenville, South Carolina on July 7th. While Flair won all these encounters, the matches were hyper competitive and could have gone either way.

July's inaugural week also saw Jim Brunzell capture two disqualification victories in title bouts with Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion the Iron Sheik in Richmond on July 4th and the next night in the Charlotte Coliseum, leaving the Sheik battered but still holding his belt. And finally, the first week in July saw the continuation of the bizarre program between Blackjack Mulligan and Enforcer Luciano with Mully scoring wins in Greensboro and Greenville, and also saw Blackjack's cousin Luke subbing for Mulligan in Richmond on the 4th and scoring a win over the Enforcer in Luciano's specialty match, the Detroit Street Brawl.

Next time: Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood review tape of their NWA World Tag Team title loss to Ray Stevens and Jimmy Snuka!

* * * * * * * * * *
More Mid-Atlantic History from July 1980 coming soon....or whenever! 
ALMANAC DIRECTORY 

Pro Wrestling Illustrated Scouting Reports on WTBS "Best of Championship Wrestling" (1985-1986)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

In September of 1985, six months after Jim Crockett Promotions had taken over the wrestling slots on Superstation WTBS, they began airing taped segments during Sunday's "Best of Championship Wrestling" program called "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Scouting Report." The segments were in conjunction with Weston Publishing's "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" (PWI) magazine and were hosted by Senior Editor of PWI Bill Apter.

Bill Apter and Magnum T.A. on the set of
"Pro Wrestling Illustrated Scouting Report"

Initially the segments were all co-hosted by NWA World Champion Ric Flair. It became a running gag in those early weeks of the show that Flair would tell Apter that he (Ric) was actually the host of the segments and that Apter served as co-host at Flair's pleasure. By late October, other JCP wrestlers began co-hosting the segments (Magnum T.A., Tully Blanchard, Dusty Rhodes, and many others) and even some wrestlers outside of the promotions such as Jerry Lawler and Ted DiBiase. Apter now referred to them as his guests. Flair was would continue to be the guest most featured throughout the segment's entire run.

"Scouting Report" had been a segment on other territory wrestling TV shows at various times in the past, sometimes co-hosted by Craig Peters in addition to Apter, but this was the first time a promotion had hosted a series of segments than ran for this long of a period of time. There were 44 weekly segments in all, stretching though late August of 1986. The show ended in advance of the end of the "Best of" show which became "World Championship Wrestling Sunday Edition" in September of 1986, a live-to-tape show that would no longer feature the pre-taped "Scouting Report" segments.

"Scouting Report" usually lasted two complete show segments, with a WTBS commercial break in the middle. Apter would select 2-3 wrestlers to "scout" and his guest would provide analysis. When Flair was the guest, they usually reviewed his top contenders for the NWA title, not only in Crockett Promotions but in other territories as well. Sometimes tapes were shown of the wrestlers being "scouted", other times just photos or slides that occasionally included stats on the scouted wrestler.

Jim Crockett Promotions created a special set for the show, with "Superstars" and "The Superstation" featured in the background as well as a chroma-key screen for showing video clips. Apter would always be seated on the left, while the co-host would be seated on the right. A coffee-table would be between them, usually with an issue or two of the magazine on display, as well as occasionally the title belt held by the wrestler featured as guest or co-host.

The set was located at the Crockett Promotions main office on Briarbend Drive in Charlotte, NC. They would tape three to four episodes at a time to air over the next several weeks on "Best of Championship Wrestling." The shows were taped on the same day that they taped the local promotional inserts for the syndicated shows (Mid-Atlantic and Wide World Wrestling) at Briarbend Drive.

Listed below are all 44 installments of "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Scouting Report." There was one episode that aired on Saturday's "World Championship Wrestling", and there were a handful of episodes hosted by someone other than Bill Apter. They are notated within the list.

The list is maintained as part of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Almanac and is permanently located at this link.

 Complete List of all Pro Wrestling Illustrated Scouting Reports
(Superstation WTBS 1985 - 1986)

as featured on the "Best of World Championship Wrestling"

Hosted by Bill Apter

	DATE	GUEST	SCOUTING REPORT / TOPICS
1	09/15/85	Ric Flair	Nikita Koloff, Carlos Colon (UWC), Magnum T.A.
2	09/22/85	Ric Flair	Billy Jack Haynes (Florida), Kerry Von Erich (World Class), Nikita Koloff
3	9/29/85	Ric Flair	Magnum T.A., Jerry Lawler (Memphis), Butch Reed (Mid-South)
4	10/06/85	Ric Flair	Bob Armstrong (Southeast/Continental), Wahoo McDaniel (Florida), Road Warrior Animal
5	10/13/85	Ric Flair	Jim Duggan (Mid-South), Terry Taylor, Dusty Rhodes
6	10/20/85	Ric Flair	Dick Murdoch, Ron Garvin, Dusty Rhodes (featured live hook-up with Rhodes)
7	10/27/85	Jerry Lawler	Bill Dundee (Memphis), Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes
8	11/03/85	Ivan & Nikita Koloff	Road Warriors (AWA), Wahoo McDaniel and Billy Jack Haynes (Florida), Rock & Roll Express, Don Kernodle.
9	11/10/85	Tully Blanchard	Terry Taylor, Ronnie Garvin, Magnum T.A.
10	11/17/85	Ric Flair	Ole and Arn Anderson
11	11/24/85	Ric Flair	Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes
12	12/01/85	Bill Apter (solo from the Omni)	NWA TV Title Tournament, Bunkhouse Stampede (Fireside), Starrcade '85 Highlights
13	12/08/85	Paul Ellering & The Road Warriors	Ivan & Nikita Koloff
14	12/15/85	Ric Flair	NWA TV Title Tournament, Starrcade match with Dusty Rhodes, Mike Ditka & The Bears, Ted Turner, Buddy Landel, Magnum T.A.
15	12/22/85	Dusty Rhodes	NWA TV Title Tournament, Ric Flair, Starrcade '85
16	12/29/85	PWI Year End Awards	Jim Cornette, Road Warriors, Ric Flair (all present to accept awards)
17	01/05/86	Magnum T.A.	Tully Blanchard, Buddy Landel, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair
18	01/11/86 (Sat.)	Magnum T.A.	NWA TV Tournament Highlights, Arn Anderson, Bobby Jaggers (Pacific Northwest), Ted DiBiase (Mid-South), Nikita Koloff Q&A: Ronnie Garvin
19	01/19/86	Ron Garvin	Ric Flair, Q&A: Ricky & Robert
20	01/26/86	Ric Flair	Dusty Rhodes, Ole Anderson, Magnum T.A., Ron Garvin, Q&A: Magnum T.A.
21	02/02/86	Ricky & Robert (Rock & Roll Express)	Midnight Express, Q&A: Ric Flair
22	02/09/86	Baby Doll (No Bill Apter)	Dusty Rhodes, Tully Blanchard
23	02/16/86	Jim Cornette	Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup, Dusty Rhodes and Magnum T.A (America's Team), Sam Houston & Nelson Royal, Q&A: Dusty Rhodes
24	03/09/86	Ted DiBiase (originally pre-empted by Braves Baseball on 2/23/86)	Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Dr. Death Steve Williams (Mid-South), Wahoo McDaniel & Mark Youngblood, The Koloffs, Rock & Roll Express, Q&A: Jim Cornette, Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody, Road Warriors, Ric Flair
25	03/02/86	Dusty Rhodes	Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Terry Funk history, Four Horsemen: Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Ric Flair, Carlos Colon & Invader (UWC), Q&A: Ted DiBiase (Mid-South), Magnum T.A.
26	03/16/86	Bill Watts	Crockett Promotions Co-Ventures, Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup, Mid-South Wrestling, Q&A: Bill Watts
27	03/23/86	James J. Dillon	Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup, Baby Doll, Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson, Ric Flair, Q&A: J.J. Dillon
28	3/30/86	Paul Boesch	Houston Wrestling History Johnny Valentine, Wild Bill Curry
29	04/06/86	Paul Boesch	History of Team Wrestling, Jim Crockett Sr., George "Two Ton" Harris, Q&A: Bill Apter
30	04/13/86	Bob Taylor (No Bill Apter)	Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Brackets
31	4/27/86	Paul Boesch	Houston Wrestling in the 1950s
32	05/04/86	Paul Boesch	The Graham Brothers, Buddy Rogers, Killer Kowalski
33	05/11/86	Paul Boesch	Killer Kowalski
34	05/18/86	Gloria Allen (Magnum's Mom)	Wrestling News by Bill Apter: Stan Hansen (AWA), The Fabulous Ones Stan Lane and Steve Keirn (Florida), Garvin vs. Blanchard, Freebirds Sign with the UWF, plus clips of Ron Garvin, Tully Blanchard, Ric Flair, Ricky Morton, Midnight Express, and Baby Doll
35	05/25/86	Baby Doll	Magnum T.A., Tully Blanchard, Midnight Express, Q&A: Baby Doll
36	06/01/86	Ricky & Robert (Rock & Roll Express) Guest host: Bob Taylor	Ric Flair
37	06/08/86	Ricky & Robert (Rock & Roll Express) Guest host: Bob Taylor	Rock & Roll Express Super Summer Sizzler Tour The Russians, Ric Flair
38	06/15/86	Ricky & Robert (Rock & Roll Express), Ric Flair Guest host: Bob Taylor	Rock & Roll Express Super Summer Sizzler Tour Great American Bash Tour
39	06/22/86	Magnum T.A.	Nikita Koloff,  Phone Call with Bob Geigel
40	06/29/86	Ricky & Robert (Rock & Roll Express)	Rock & Roll Express Super Summer Sizzler Tour Q&A: Ricky & Robert
"Best of Championship Wrestling" on Sundays preempted the entire month of July for the Goodwill Games and Braves Baseball
41	08/03/86	Paul Jones (Joined in Progress)	Jimmy Valiant
42	08/10/86	Ron Garvin	Tully Blanchard
43	08/17/86	Ric Flair	Dusty Rhodes, Four Horsemen, Kansas City & St. Louis, 4th NWA World Title Victory
44	08/24/86	Dick Murdoch	Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes